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’ - 1 — ^ I 'C fiAj?)_ 



PROSPECTUS 


OF TUE 


NEFF PETROLEUM COMPANY, 


WITH TOE 


GEOLOGICAL REPORTS 


OF 



Prof. A. WINCHELL, 
Prof. J. S. NEWBERRY, 
Prof. H. L. SMITH. 


TOGETHER WITH 


OTHER ARTICLES OF INTEREST, 


AND A 


MAP OP KNOX AND ADJOINING COUNTIES, 

STATE OF OHIO. 


JUNE, 1^00. 



GAM BIER, OHIO: 

WESTERN EPISCOPALIAN BOOK AND JOB OFFICE. 

1 860 . 

_ ^ 

gS^g) 
































mpJkJWM Q*W q>wiq > 9 

SHOWING THE LOCATION & THE GEOLOGICAL POSITION OF THEOILLANDS 

OF THE 

NEFF PETROLEUM COMPANY, 

IN THE TRIANGULAR BASIN FORMED BY THE TWO ANTICLINALS ALONG THE 

MOHICAN AND KOKOSING RIVERS. 



a WTIfLIN A LS. 
ff 3 4 , WELLS OF THE COMPANY 
H HURDWELL1124 FT. TO BITUMINOUS 
SHALES, OIL AT 575 FT. 


yuisitiiSft 


SCALE 8 MILES TO THE INCH 

W. WELLS FINDING NO OIL. 
BRANCH OF OHIO CANAL. 


[HR(iOTT,H>HBM6U *C9 UTH CtN. 


N. R. NEWKIRK & REED WELL. 


ROUTE TO WELLS FROM MT. VEBHOH VIA GAMBIER 4 

PROJECTED B. R. FROM COSHOCTOH, THROUGH WALHOND1NG. MT. VLBNOH 

MARION. . 

OF STRATA 22%FEET TO MILE, AND SURFACE DRAINAGE ABOUT 

10 FEET TO MILE. 

+o HENY0N COLLEGE. 


80 M.CES TO LAKE ERIE ON N. & N. WEST, AND 50 MILES TO LIMESTONES ON 

KOKOSTO R ? AT JURCTIOH WITH MOHICAH B, ,S BBT FT. AHD THE AHTICLIHALS 
ARF 700 FT ABOVE LAKE ERIE. * 

SFAM OF BASTARD OR FALSE COAL NORTH & WEST OF NEW CASTLE.2> 2 MILES 
Ts E NEAR,TOP OF HILLS ISVFT. SEAM OF BITUMINOUS COAL. 

































































PROSPECTUS 


Or THE 

NEFF PETROLEUM COMPANY 

• • 

WITH THE 

GEOLOGICAL REPORTS 


Prof. A. WINCHELL, 
Prof. J. S. NEWBERRY, 
Prof. H. L. SMITH. 


TOGETHER WITH 


OTHER ARTICLES OF INTEREST, 


AND A 

MAP OF KNOX AND ADJOINING COUNTIES.. 

STATE OF OHIO. 



G A MB IE R, OHIO: 

WESTERN EPISCOPALIAN BOOK ANT) JOB OFFICE. 





TRUSTEES. 


PETER NEFF, President & Gen. Sup’t, 

R. F. STEVENS, Vice Pres’t, 

JNO. F. COLLINS, Secretary, 

JAS. O. SMITH, Treasurer, 

S. L. TAYLOR, Ass’t Sup’t, 

ISAAC P. STRYKER, 


Ganibier, Ohio. 

Chittenango Springs, N. Y. 

18 William street, New York. 
IS William street, New York. 
Mt. Vernon, O. 

New York City. 


OFFICES. 


18 WILLIAM STREET, NEW YORK. 

GAMBIER KNOX COUNTY, OHIO. 

No. 3 KREMLIN BUILDING, MT. VERNON, OHIO. 


\ 








the 


NEFF PETROLEUM COMPANY, 


ORGANIZED UNDER THE LAWS OF TILE STATE OF NEW YORK. 


The lands of this Company, comprising several thousand 
acres of the best Oil Territory in Ohio, are situated in the 

%j 

Counties of Knox, Coshocton, Holmes, and Ashland, and 
were selected and located after much patient investigation 
and search for an Oil Basin on the borders of the great Ap¬ 
palachian Coal fields, which had points of indisputable simi¬ 
larity and conformity with the physical and geological pecu¬ 
liarities of the renowned Oil Territory of Venango County, 
Pennsylvania. We have here such a basin. It is the same 
as Venango County in all striking essentials, and is its dupli¬ 
cate. The lands of the Company are located in this basin. 

Its Geological features are absolutely the same in the 
sand-rock formation, the dip of the strata, the drainage, Ac. 
The physical characteristics of Venango County, as found in 
all their surface indications, are fully duplicated in this trian¬ 
gular basin formed by the anticlinal ridges which determine 
the main course of the Kokosing and Mohican Rivers. 

This remarkable Oil Territory is being developed. That 
Oil is here in large quantities, both the development of the 
wells and the gas fully prove. The depth is from 500 to 025 
feet to the oil bearing rock, and the borings indicate the same 
formations of Sand Rock and Soap Stones, passed through in 


4 


boring wells on Oil Creek. The height of the anticlinal ridges 
is about 700 feet, that of the streams is about 300 feet above 
Lake Erie, and the general elevations of this Territory are the 
same as that of Yenango County, Pennsylvania. 

Tiie lands of the Company present every feature of desi¬ 
rable Oil Territory not only to those who favor hill sides and 
abrupt gorges, but particularly and especially those who prefer 
low lands, or out-spread valleys shut in by steep hills, with a 
near approach to the base of the Carboniferous Conglome¬ 
rates, as defining the line of upheaval which forms the natural 
check found in all successful Oil Territory. There are also* 
here natural features unequalled in any locality hitherto pre¬ 
sented to the attention of the public. As an earnest of this, 
reference may be had alone to the leading water courses, as 
indicated in the accompanying outline map. It will there be 
observed, that the line of the Kokosing River is nearly due 
east and west, the Mohican River north and south. The junc¬ 
tion of these two Rivers forms the Walhonding River, which 
flows into the Muskingum River. The Mohican and Kokosing 
Rivers form two sides of the great triangular basin in which 
the wells of the Company are located. It will therefore be 
readily perceived that the lands of the Company are situated 
upon the head waters of the Muskingum River, and at the 
point, at which Nature seems to indicate in the most singular 
manner, the suddenness and completeness of the upheaval on 
the one hand and the gradual and uniform drainage basin on 
the other. The moderate upheavals which are so important 
as producing Cracks, Fissures and Seams, in which the oil 
may be stored, are on every hand evinced in the out-cropping 
Sand Rock within this Basin, by the displacement and dis¬ 
turbances of the general dip of the Strata ; while on the anti- 
clinals the upheavals are so great as to prevent any drainage 
from the basin passing over. The basin is a synclinal axis 
and is very much disturbed—much more so than any other 
portion of the same horizon on the borders of the Apalachian 
Coal Basin outside of Yenango County, Pennsylvania. 

These lands abound in all the phenomena which have 


hitherto been considered the most promising in Oil Territories, 
for instance, the presence in large quantities of the Subcarbon- 
iferous sand stones, fucoid impressions therein, the burnt red 
sand stones, the laurel and black alder, gas springs, salt licks, 
and springs from the waters of which oil lias been distilled. 
There are also several places in the anticlinal ridges where the 
carburetted gases find a natural exit, and that such gases exist 
in great abundance under the Sand Rock, at a depth of six 
hundred feet, is demonstrated by the developments of the wells, 
two of which surpass in this respect, borings in any other part 
of known oil territory. 

The Company are working upon four wells. One, upon 
reaching the oil rock, at 562 feet, commenced flowing four 
gallons of oil per day, and preparations are making to pump 
it.* Two wells, Nos. 1 and 2, have developed rich Petroleum 
Gas in large quantities. No. 3 is 598 feet deep, and has a 
fine show of superior oil. It is to be tested. It is confidently 
believed that all the four wells will be good paying ones. Ar¬ 
rangements are making for putting down others. 

The Company propose to lease, on most favorable terms, 
tracts of their lands to responsible parties who wish to bore 
Oil Wells. 


This great Oil Basin of Ohio, the duplicate of that of Ve¬ 
nango County, is already attracting great interest. Several 
wells are being put down besides those of the Company. Iwo 
are already in progress by experienced men from the Oil Re¬ 
gions of Pennsylvania, and by the Ilurd Petroleum Company 
of Mt. Vernon, Ohio. East and South-East of this great 
Basin are the lands of several Oil Companies in Coshocton 
county. Adjoining these on the South are the Muskingum 
Co. oil lands. 


* The following is Prof. E. S. Wayne’s Analysis of the Oil of this 
Well:— 

The Oil is 33° Baume in gravity. The quality is good, and will yield 
by distilling and refining fully GO per cent, of Illuminating Oils, and 30 

per cent, of Heavy Oils for lubricating purposes. 

1 (Signed) E. S. WAYNE. 


Cincinnati, O. 







Ample means of transportation are afforded by the Branch 
of the Ohio Canal which passes through the principal range 
of our lands, and is also of easy access from the most remote 
part of them. Railroad communication direct, on an East 
and West through line of travel, will soon be afforded. The most 
speedy means of reaching these lands at present, is by private 
conveyance from Mt. Vernon, Knox Co., ()., a distance of 
about 16 miles. 

The following Towns, situated upon Railroads, are each 
about 20 miles distant, viz., Coshocton, Dresden, Loudonville, 
and Millersburgh. Gambier, the Western Office of the Neff 
Petroleum Company, is situated five miles East of Mt. Ver¬ 
non, on the road to the Wells. S. L. Taylor, Asst. Superin¬ 
tendent, may be found at No. 3 Kremlin Building, Mt. Ver¬ 
non, O., Office of Neff Petroleum Company. 

Youk attention is called to the accompanying reports 
of A. Winciiell, A.M., Professor of Geology, Zoology, and 
Botany, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Prof. J. S. 
Newberry, M.D., Professor of Geology and Palaeontology in 
the School of Mines of Columbia College, New York; II. L. 
Smith, A.M., Professor of Astronomy, Natural Philosophy, and 
Chemistry, Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio; and the follow¬ 
ing communications and letters. 

Gambier. ()., 12th June. 1866. 


GEOLOGICAL REPORT 

ON THE LANDS OF THE NEFF PETROLEUM COMPANY 
LYING IN KNOX AND C0SPI0CT0N COUNTIES, OHIO. 


1. Geological Position. 

The lauds of this Company are found to be situated upon 
the formation known as the AVaverly or Fine Grained Sand- 
tone series of Ohio. Owing to the gradual eastward dip of 
the strata, the more easterly locations occupy a somewhat 
higher geological position in the series than the more westerly 
ones. The Conglomerate or Millstone Grit is reported as oc¬ 
curring upon the hill summits throughout most of the region 
covered by the lands of the Company, while in the western 
part of Coshocton county I found it occupying the general 
surface. Near Newcastle, at u the Cascade," the water falls 
over about twenty feet of the Conglomerate, which is here seen 
to be underlaid by a seam of coal three feet thick. This bed 
of coal, situated beneath the Conglomerate, occupies the posi¬ 
tion of the u False Coal Measures” of West Virginia, Penn¬ 
sylvania, Tennessee and Nova Scotia. A cherty limestone 
outcrops in several places in the vicinity ot Newcastle; and 
about two miles east of the village, the u coal mine” is found 
to be excavated in a seam which lies immediately beneath a 
bed of limestone, of which about four feet are exposed. This- 
limestone is filled with marine fossils characteristic of the 
coal measures. The coal forms a bed about four feet in thick¬ 
ness, and seems to be of good quality. 

The precise geological age of the rocks in Ohio, which lie 
immediately below the Conglomerate—or in this case, below 
the False Coal Measures—has been a matter of dispute. These 
rocks were formerly regarded as equivalent to the Chemung 
group of New York; and it is now the custom of many to 


8 


speak of them as Devonian. Careful investigation, however, 
lias as yet failed to identify with certainty any of these fossils 
with those of the Chemung group, while multitudes of species, 
together with the general aspect of the assemblage of forms, 
tend strongly to ally the formation with the lower carbonifer¬ 
ous rocks of other parts of the world. Several of the species, 
moreover, are admitted to be identical with those found in the 
Coal Measures ; and during the very examination upon which 
this report is made, I discovered, for the first time, Chonetes 
mesoloba , a well known fossil of the Coal Measures, in the 
upper part of the Waverly Series.* If we seek, therefore, to 
be exact in the terms which we employ, it would seem that we 
must cease to regard these sandstones as Devonian while we 

o 

encounter so many proofs that they received the impress of the 
Carboniferous age.f 


2. Dislocations of the Strata. 


The strata of this part of Ohio present a general easterly 
dip, and pass under the Coal Measures of the eastern portion 
of the State. The drainage of the surface has excavated val¬ 
leys of greater or less depth, increasing generally in the direc¬ 
tion of the water-flow. The hills, therefore, are not generally 
upheavals. 

While, however, these statements are true of the region 
in general, it is important to direct special attention to some 
obvious geological disturbances. In the vicinity of Well No. d. 


* The following species from this horizon are known to ascend into the 
Coal Measures, viz: Producta Cora , Licking County, Ohio, P. semireticu- 
lata, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Ac., Chonetes mesoloba, Knox county, 
Orthisina umbraculum , Trumbull county, 8'piri/era lineata, Missouri. 

t Geologists will remark that not only do these sandstones contain 
multitudes of fossils characteristic generically, and often specifically of 
the Carboniferous Limestones of the West, but thev actually occupy the 
same relative position, immediately below the Conglomerate, as the car¬ 
boniferous limestones of Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, and other States 
further West. They are also, apparently, the westward continuation of 
the Conglomerates and Sandstones of Pennsylvania lying between the 
Chemung and so-called Catskill groups below, and the red shales above 
—the latter having thinned out before reaching Ohio. 

It is not improbable that the real equivalent of the Chemung and Por¬ 
tage groups of New York is to be found in the Chocolate Shales and Flags 
of Ohio, and that part of the “ Huron group” of Michigan lying immedi¬ 
ately above the Black (or Genesee) Shale. 




9 


the rocks are seen to dip in opposite directions—east, west and 
north. Half a mile east of this Well, the dip is not less than 
20° eastward and slightly northward, hut becomes sensibly 
horizontal again half a mile still further east, at the u Butler 
Mill/’ At Millwood, also, half a mile west of the same Well, 
the rocks assume their normal position. It appears evident, 
therefore, that an anticlinal exists in this vicinity. 


Further tilting of the strata may be'observed in the gorge 
below u the Cascade’’ near Newcastle. 

It is not unlikely, moreover, that the ridge bounding the 
valley of the Mohican river on the east, from its junction with 
the Kokosing northward, is to some extent due to geological 
upheaval. The same may be said of the ridge lying along the 
south side of the Kokosing, westward from its junction with 
the Mohican. The place of intersection of these two ridges 
is at or near the gorge in the vicinity of Newcastle. I did 
not however have the opportunity to verify all these sugges¬ 
tions by personal observations. 


3. Special Geology of the Wells Bored. 

♦ 

I have had access to statistics of the boring of four or five 
Wells within the limits of the region under consideration. 

CD 

Those of the Well known as u No. 1." are most detailed. 


From these I have condensed the following exhibit. 


SUMMARY OF STATISTICS OF WELL No 1. 


Depthfrom 

Surface. 

Thickness. 

DESCRIPTION. 

feet. 

feet. 


0 

10 

Superficial materials. 

10 

56 

Sandrock, reddish, yellowish, or drab; fine or coarse, 
with some pyrites and iron ore. A 6 in. water- 
vein at 33 ft. 

60 

1 

A strong, running, 10 in. water-vein. 

67 

19 

Shales, bluish, sandy or argillaceous. 

86 

160 

Shales, and shaly sandstones, alternating. 

240 

114 

Sandstones, bluish, solid. 

Shales and clays, tough, plastic or sandy, with fre¬ 
quent escape of gas bubbles and signs of oil. 

360 

240 

600 


Sandrock. At 3 inches in this a reservoir of gas was 
struck. 


From these data it appears that the drill, after passing the 
superficial materials, went through a series of strata of a pre- 












JO 


dominating arenaceous character for 50 feet, and then a series 
of strata characterized more or less by the presence of argilla¬ 
ceous matter for 180 feet. These were succeeded by another 
series of arenaceous strata for 114 feet, and a second series 
of shaly strata for 240 feet, terminating in a sandrock. For 
convenience of reference we may designate the arenaceous 
series as the first, second and third sandstones, and the argil¬ 
laceous strata as the first and second shales. In Well No. 2, 
the third sandstone was found to be 15 feet thick, and was 
underlaid by a u red marl" or clay, which was penetrated 11 
feet. The third sandstone was found 8 feet thick in Well No. 
4, and the underlying chocolate shales and shaly sandstones 
were penetrated 232 feet. In the u Hurd Well No. 1." the 
chocolate shales and flags were reached at about 590 feet, and 
the underlying Black Shale at 1124 feet, giving a thickness of 
534 feet to the chocolate shales and flags. The thickness of 
the Black Shale in this region is unknown. It was penetrated 
84 feet in the Hurd well. 

T1 le data placed in my possession from all the wells are 
generalized and tabulated below. In geographical position 
Nos. 1 and 2 are almost identical, and the results of boriim 
are also identical. The other wells succeed each other in the 
order named, proceeding from east to west; and are separated 
by somewhat equal intervals. 


SUMMARY OF STATISTICS OF ALL THE WELLS. 


Superficial, - 
1st Sandrock, 

1st Shales, - 
2d Sandrock, 

2d Shales, - 
;jd Sandrock, 

Choc. Shales and Flags, 
Black Shale, 


! No. 1. 

(Neff.) 

wo. 2. 

(New.) 

Wo. 3. 

(Neff.) 

No. 1. 

(Hurd.) 

Wo. >1. 

(Neff.) 


Thick. 


Thick. 


Thick. 


Thick. 


Thick - 

Depth. 

ness. 

Depth. 

ness 

Depth. 

ness. 

Depth. 

ness. 

Depth. 

ness. 

0 

10 

0 

10 

0 

SI 

0 

68 

0 

50 

10 

. r >6 

10 

56 







66 

ISO 

6(> 

ISO 

81 

ISO 



50 

1D0 

246 

114 

246 

114 

261 

100 



240 

10O 

360 

240 

.*160 

240 

.‘161 

1!>0+ 



340 

222 

t;oo 


600 

15 



575 

15 

562 

8 



615 

11 + 



590 

534 

570 

232+ 







1124 

81 + 









1212 





The correspondences in these wells are quite as good as 
could be expected. Employing the data given, we find the 
mean thickness of the several formations to be as follows: 







































IDEAL SECTION 

of the Strata from East to West through tfuXa nets ofthe 

NEFF PETROLEUM COMPANY. 



















































































































































































11 


First Sandrock, - - - - 56 feet. 

First Shales, - - - - 183 “ 

Second Sandrock, - 105 “ 

Second Shales, - 231 “ 

Third Sandrocks, - - - - 11 “ 

Chocolate Shales and flags, - 534 “ 

Total,. 1120 “ 


As the height of land at Newcastle is 338 feet above the 
platform of Well No. 2, and approximately 100 feet above the 
false Coal Measures, it appears that the first Sandrock con¬ 
tinues 238 feet above the platform, or 248 above the point 
where the rock was struck. This gives a total thickness to 
the first Sandrock of about 300 feet, and makes the entire 
series of strata lying between the Conglomerate and the Black 
Shale attain a thickness of about 1360 feet. 


The stratigraphical relations of these wells are represented 
to the eye in the accompanying diagram. In this diagram the 
vertical scale is 544 feet to the inch ; the horizontal scale is 
about 14,600 feet to the inch. 


4. Comparisons witli other Oil Regions. 

Petroleum is now known to be obtained in quantities of 
commercial importance in the following formations and regions 
east of the Mississippi River. 

1. From the Nashville group* of rocks in the Lower Si¬ 
lurian, on Manitoulin Island, Lake Huron ; in the Burksville 
region of southern Kentucky, and in parts of Overton county 
Tennessee. 

2. From the Hamilton group in Canada West. 

3. From the Lower Carboniferous Sandstones of north¬ 
western Pennsylvania. 

4. From the Carboniferous (or Mountain) Limestone in 
the Glasgow region of Kentucky, and in Warren, White, and 
parts of Overton county, Tennessee. 


* The group of strata formerly misnamed “Hudson River group,” has 
been recently designated as the “ Cincinnati group” by Mr. F. B. Meek; 
but it would seem that the name proposed by Salford, in 1856, for strata 
of this age in Tennessee, may be extended to rocks of the same age, and 
similarly restricted in other States and regions. 







12 


5. From the Conglomerate (or Millstone Grit), in parts of 
South western Pennsylvania, and in West Virginia and north¬ 
eastern Kentucky. 

6. From the Coal Measures in Coshocton, Muskingum and 
other counties of Ohio, and parts of north-eastern Kentucky. 

The oil-containing formation in all these regions is known 
to geologists to be locally associated with bitumen-bearing 
strata. The accumulation of petroleum seldom takes place in 
the strata containing the material from which the oil is elabo¬ 
rated. The fluid generally ascends by virtue of its lighter 
gravity than water, into some porous or cavernous formation 
lying above, from which it is prevented from escaping to the 
surface by overlying impervious strata. The Black Shale of 
Ohio, which is reached in the Hurd Well Ho. 1, is believed 
to be the source whence large quantities of petroleum are 
evolved in Pennsylvania and some parts of Tennessee and 
Kentucky, as well as other regions. Probably there does not 
exist in the rocks of the interior of the Continent, another de¬ 
pository of organic matter so extensive as this, and so well 
prepared and conditioned for the production of petroleum. 

On a more detailed comparison, we observe that the rocks 
of the Coal Measures lying immediately above the geological 
horizon in which the lands of the Neff Petroleum Company 
are situated, have afforded in Kentucky and in Coshocton and 
other counties of Ohio, the most remarkable “ surface indica¬ 
tions” that have been witnessed east of the Rocky Mountains. 
On development, however, it has been ascertained that no 
large accumulations of oil lie within reach. The results of 
borings, though occasionally successful, have as yet presented 
no very noteworthy successes. The cause of this state of 
things may be divined. The very magnitude of the “ surface 
show ” is proof that the supply is wasting itself instead of ac¬ 
cumulating. The essential impervious covering is wanting 
Furthermore, it is doubtful whether the carbonaceous materials 
of the Coal Measures are as favorably conditioned for the pro¬ 
duction of oil, as the bitumenous Black Shale below; while 
the latter is too much depressed for availability in the regions 


13 


of the Coal Measures. It is a favorable indication, therefore, 
that the lands of this Company do not lie upon the Coal Meas¬ 
ures. 

On comparison with the oil-producing district of North¬ 
western Pennsylvania—the most productive yet known—we 
observe that the geological position of the two is exactly the 
same, with the great Coal Conglomerate immediately above, 
and the Black Shale formation not too far below. As might 
be expected the physical geography produced by the formation 
is extremely similar in the two regions ; and it may be added 
that the topographical elevation—to which the strength of the 
tendency to accumulate is proportioned—is almost exactly the 
same in both regions. The details of stratification in the rocks 
bored through are also similar; as it is well known that in 
"V enango County especially, well-borers expect to encounter- 
two or three sandrocks with intervening shaly strata. The 
exact comparison will be best apprehended by the following 
tabular exhibit. The Titusville column is filled from data ob¬ 
tained on the u Watson flats,” and the Oil City column from 
data obtained about one mile above Oil City. The Neff col¬ 
umn contains the mean values already given. 

COMPARISON OF VENANGO, KNOX, AND PART OF COSHOCTON COUNTIES. 


FORMATIONS. 

TITUSVILLE. 

OIL CITY. 

NEFF. 

Depth. 

Thick - 
ness. 

Depth. 

Thick. 

ness. 

Depth. 

Thick. 

ness. 

Materials above 1st Sandrock, 

- 

0 

155 

0 

205 

0 

52 

First Sandrock, - 

- 

155 

16 

205 

38 

52 

56 

Shales and Clay, - 

- 

171 

229 

243 

107 

108 

183 

Second Sandrock, - 

- 

400 

55 

350 

30 

291 

105 

Shales and Shaly Sandstones, 

_ 


) 

380 

70 

396 

231 

Third Sandrock, - 

- 


1 815+ 

450 

40 

627 

11 

Chocolate Shales and Flags, 

- 


1 

490 

700+ 

638 

534 

Black Shale, - 

- 


300 


300 

1172 

200 


The probable thickness of the Black Shale in Venango 
County is estimated from data given in Rogers’ Geological 
Report of Pennsylvania. Its thickness in Knox County is 
estimated from its known thickness at other points. 

In the Titusville well the third sandrock was not recog¬ 
nized and the boring probably extended far into the chocolate 
shales and flags. 

























14 


1 have not attempted to exhibit the parallelism ol the two 
regions in stratigraphical details, in consequence of any very 
favorable prognostication which I would base on the most 
complete correspondence. A coincidence in the stratigraphi¬ 
cal succession and in lithological characters might easily exist 
between two formations of very different ages. It is, however, 
a coincidence of great value that the general geological situa¬ 
tion is the same in Knox and Venango Counties—the same 
depository of petroleum material underlying both regions within 
about the same distance of the surface; and above this a po¬ 
rous and fissured sandstone of the same age, serving as a re¬ 
ceptacle of the product, covered over by two series of imper¬ 
vious shaly rocks which have kept the oil shut up for unknown 
ages, instead of allowing it to escape at the surface and evap¬ 
orate. 

It is but justice for me to state here, that some years ago, 
on the first discovery of petroleum in Pennsylvania, my mind 
turned to the belt of Waverly sandstones stretching across the 
State of Ohio, as offering a geological parallel to Venango 
County; and, on more than one occasion, I have been on the 
point of setting out to discover somewhere in that belt, the 
requisite stratigraphical arrangements for petroleum accumu¬ 
lation. It gives me great pleasure, however, to accord the 
credit of that discovery to the practical and scientific sagacity 
of the gentleman who has located the lands of this company, 
and given his name to the organization. 


5. Conclusion. 

The following is a resume of the results to which 1 have 

o 

been led by the foregoing investigation : 

1. The geological position is upon the subcarboniferous 
sandstones, immediately below the Millstone grit. 

2. An adequate supply of petroleum material lies imme¬ 
diately below the sandstones in the Black (or Genesee) Shale. 

3. The porous character of the sandstones, and the mode¬ 
rate dislocation to which they have been subjected, seem to 
have created adequate reservoirs for the accumulation of oil. 


15 


4. The first and second series of argillaceous strata are ap¬ 
parently adequate to form an impervious covering over the 
reservoirs. 


5. The absence of strong surface indications argues a re¬ 
tention of the product within the original receptacles. 

b. A complete parallelism is shown between this region 
and Venango County in 

(a). Geological position and associations. 

(5). L ithological characters and sequences. 

(c). Topographical elevation. 

7. The actual results of boring prove the soundness of the 
above reasoning in 

(a). Signs of oil in every case, and an actual flowing 


well in one instance. 

(b). The evolution of an amount of gas in one instance 
which is marvelous both for its volume and its 
continuance. 

S. A large reservoir of petroleum is liable to lie struck in 
any well which is bored within the region brought under con¬ 
sideration. 

0. At the same time, I feel it my duty to suggest that the 
numerous failures which have been experienced in attempts at 
development in all oil regions, should repress an undue amount 
of confidence, and restrain from all unnecessary expenditures, 
as long as the lack of a crowning success renders explorations 


merely tentative and uncertain in their results. 

J 

A. WlNCIIELL, 

Prof. Geology. Zoology and Botany, University of Michigan. 
Ann Arbor, May 26, 1866. 


PROF. NEWBERRY’S REPORT. 


Cleveland, Ohio, May 25th, 1866. 

Peter Neff, Esq., 

President of the Neff Petroleum Company — 

Dear Sir:—I herewith submit the following brief report of 
my examination of the wells and lands of your company in 
Knox, Coshocton, and Holmes Counties, Ohio. 


Topographical Features. 

These lands I found lying in the valleys of the Kokosing 
and Mohican rivers and their minor tributaries, extending, with 
more or less interruptions, from Gambier eastward to, and into 
Coshocton County, across the line of the dip of the rocks, which 
is here eastward, and about 22 feet to the mile. 

The topography of the surrounding country is similar to 
that of a considerable area in this section of the State, but 
much more varied than that of the northern and western por¬ 
tions. The valleys of the draining streams are deeply exca¬ 
vated, the bottom lands being relatively narrow, and along the 
lower Kokosing and Mohican, from three hundred to four hun¬ 
dred feet below the adjacent highlands. Here, as in many 
other parts of Ohio and Western Pennsylvania, the streams 
are running far above their ancient beds, the valleys being 
partially filled up, and their rock bottoms being covered with 
from 50 to 100 feet of gravel, sand and clay. 


Geological Structure. 

The geological formation which underlies this district and 
in which the valleys I have referred to are excavated, is the 



“ Waverly Group” of the Ohio Geological reports, a mass of 
sandstones and shales separating the overlying Conglomerate 
and Coal Measures from the “Black Slate” which lies 
below. 

To the best of knowledge at the present time all this group 
belongs to the Carboniferous Epoch, being the equivalents of 
the “ Sub-carboniferous Sandstone ” of Kentucky, and a por¬ 
tion of the “ Sub-carboniferous Limestone” of Illinois. 

The underlying “ Black Slate ” is a mass of Bituminous 
Shale, resting on the Corniferous (Devonian) Limestone, which 
forms the surface rock of the western half of the State. 

In the generalities of its structure, the district including 
your lands, is similar to a belt of country stretching from the 
Oil Creek region in Pennsylvania around the north-western 
margin of the Alleghany Coal field, to and beyond the Ohio 
river, a strip of territory which, from the number of oil springs 
and oil wells it contains, has been called the u oil belt ” of the 
State. 

This geological level, as early as 1860 , I designated as 
the oil horizon , and the Waverly group—then considered by all 
as the equivalent of the Portage and Chemung of New York— 
“ the oil rocks." Subsequent experience has not deprived them 
of their claims to this distinction. Oil has since, as it had 
before, been'found in all the different formations, but the quan¬ 
tity yielded by the strata lying between the “Black Slate” 
and the Carboniferous Conglomorate preponderates so greatly 
over that derived from any and all other sources, that it now 
more than ever deserves to be considered the oil horizon. 

The reason why these strata are so rich in petroleum is, in 
my judgment, not obscure. It is not, however, that this was 
one of the original constituents of the sandstones and shales 
which compose the group—or lias been derived from any of 
these constituents—for they are merely mechanical sediments, 
composed almost entirely of inorganic matter, sand (com¬ 
minuted quartz) and alumina—but rather because of their re¬ 
lation to the “Black Slate,” which is the true oil producing 
rock. Wherever found this rock is highly bituminous, con- 


18 


taming from 10 to 20 per cent, of bitumen, and by artificial 
.distillation yielding from 20 to 40 gallons of oil to the ton. 

It will be seen at a glance, therefore, that this is the great 
repository of oil-producing material in the State. In this re¬ 
spect far exceeding the Coal Measures, and much better than 
they, deserving the name of Carboniferous, or Carbon bearing 
formation. 

From the “Black Slate, 75 wherever exposed, oil and gas are 
seen to issue, apparently as the product of a spontaneous and 
constant distillation. 

Upon the Black Shale rests the “Waverly, 55 composed of 
coarse and massive, or finer sandstones, alternating with ar- 
gillaceous shales, the latter better known in the oil regions as 
“ Soap stone. 75 

The oil and gas generated in the Black Shales, greatly in¬ 
creased in volume by their change of state, press upward and 
fill the pores, as w T ell as fissures and cavities of the overlying 
sandstones, and when a way is found or forced, assisted by 
hydrostatic pressure, rising to the surface and escaping into 
the atmosphere. Where the sandstones are disturbed and 
broken they afiord capacious reservoirs for the oil, and when 
covered by close and impervious shales they may have retained 
the accumulated product of ages of distillation. 

Tis only when such closed reservoirs are opened by the 
auger that oil is obtained in large quantities. 

In a recent report “On the Cumberland Oil-region, 77 I have 
• epitomized the physical theory of oil wells, as follows: 

1. “ Oil may occur at any geological level—wherever indeed 
there are bituminous rocks from which it can be derived. 

In the Far West the Tertiary and Cutaceous rocks occupy 
a much larger area than any others. There they include im¬ 
mense beds of lignite, much of which can hardly be distin¬ 
guished from our bituminous coals. From these rocks oil 
springs issue in numerous places, and in some oil is obtained 
in “paying 5 * quantities. 

The oil of West Virginia issues from the Coal formation ; 
that of Pennsylvania and Canada from the underlying Devo- 


19 


• man rocks; that of Chicago from the Upper Silurian ; while 
the oil of the Cumberland district is derived from the much 
older Lower Silurian strata, the equivalents of the Hudson 
River and Trenton rocks of New York. 

2. From its point of origin, petroleum always tends to rise 
to the surface, thrown up by the heavier water associated with 
it. Whenever, therefore, oil rocks are completely uncovered, 
and much opened, although oil may saturate them, and even 
issue from them in springs, we do not find it obtainable in 
large quantities. 

8. Natural and closed reservoirs which have received and 
retained the flow of oil for ages are absolutely essential to the 
existence of largely productive wells. 

Great oil wells will, therefore, only bo found where these 
three essentials are combined: 1st. An adequate source in 
masses of bituminous strata. 2d. Cavities and crevices formed 
by upheavals in which the oil can collect, and 3d. An imper¬ 
vious cover by which these reservoirs are hermetically closed, 
only to be opened by the auger. When the oil is associated, 
as is often the case, with great quantities of gas, and the reser¬ 
voir is tapped so as to draw oil and not gas, the oil is forced 
out by the pressure behind, and a flowing well is produced. 
Where the gas escapes spontaneously, the oil must be raised 
by pumping. 

The oil producing rocks of the different geological periods 
are spread over a large part of our continent, and oil springs 
of greater or less volume are found in a great number of lo- 
calities, yet for the reasons already given, great oil wells will 
only be found in the districts where the rare combination of 
circumstances, which I have sketched, also occurs. 

The West Pennsylvania oil region—the most productive 
known—has, in a marked degree, the subterranean structure 
to which I have referred. We there find, perhaps a thousand 
feet below the general surface, the Devonian bituminous shales, 
containing from ten to twenty per cent, of carbonaceous mat¬ 
ter, from which I suppose the oil to emanate. Above these 
are several beds of sandstone—massive and coarse in texture. 


much broken up by the elevation of the neighboring Alle- 
ghanies, and affording convenient reservoirs for the reception 
of the oil. These reservoirs are more or less perfectly closed 
by the strata of clay-shale separating the sandstone masses, 
and the whole sandstone series is deeply covered by imper¬ 
vious argillaceous shales/’ 

Following the line of outcrop of the oil rocks west from 
Oil Creek, surface indications of oil are met with in every 
county of the Reserve, and wells have been sunk in the val¬ 
leys of all the more important streams. At Mecca, Trumbull 
County, the quantity of oil raised has been considerable, but 
the coarse sandstones are here the surface rock, and, though 
saturated with oil, they form only an open reservoir in which 
accumulation could take place, but to a limited extent, and 
the lighter portions of the oil having passed off, the residuum 
is left as a heavy lubricating fluid. 

The wells here are very shallow and soon exhausted— 
though after an interval of rest they can be for a time success¬ 
fully pumped again. 

In the valley of the Cuyahoga and Vermillion, and on the 
tributaries of Black river in Grafton, Liverpool and Litchfield, 
the surface indications are especially encouraging, but the nu¬ 
merous wells which have been sunk, though passing through 
strata saturated with oil, have produced comparatively little, 
from the simple fact that they penetrated no reservoirs ; the 
rocks in which they are bored lying compact and unbroken. 
Along the. western margin of the Coal basin a similar state of 
things prevails, and the oil enterprises which have had this as 
their field of operations have been universally unsuccessful. 
Lying so far away from the Alleghanies, the upheavals which 
have disturbed and broken the stratification nearer the moun¬ 
tains—disturbances which have favored the formation and ac¬ 
cumulation of petroleum, and have made a belt of country 
skirting the mountains, so productive—are here, as a general 
rule, altogether wanting. 

Having examined the out crop of the oil rocks in many 
parts of the territory to which 1 have referred above, and be- 


21 


ing familiar with the history of the experiments that have been 
tried there, 1 went to Knox County with anticipations not 
specially flattering to your hopes of success. I was, however, 
somewhat surprised to find in the district where your lands 
are located, local features quite at variance with the general 
structure of the region of which, geologically, it forms a part, 
and such as, in my opinion, fully justify the preference you 
have given it, and the expenditure made on its developments. 

1 refer to the evidences of disturbance which the strata 
exhibit. Though local in extent they exceed in degree any thing 
1 have seen elsewhere in the interior of the State. The line of 
uplift which crosses the lvokosing below Millwood and be¬ 
tween your wells Nos. 3 and 4, along a belt, perhaps a mile 
in width, has tilted the strata, so that they lie at an angle of 
from 20° to 30°, dipping eastwardly. 

Still farther east, another line of upheaval seems to have 
determined the course of the Mohican for some miles; giving 
a different geology to the east and west banks of that stream— 
the highlands on the east containing the coal measures, with 
workable coal—while they are entirely wanting on tiie west 
side.* 

These disturbances are very encouraging features in the 
geological structure of the district, and afforded you good 
ground for the inference that wells sunk in the viciuitv of these 
lines of fracture would encounter fissures and cavities in the 
rocks below, and good reason to hope that, with the same rocks 
that underlie the Oil Creek region, and at least an equal 
amount of disturbance, oil would be procured in paying quan¬ 
tities. 

The facts revealed by putting down the wells already bored, 
have fully confirmed your inference in regard to the subter¬ 
ranean structure—for in no part of the oil region of Pennsyl¬ 
vania have more conspicuous fissures been met with than those 
penetrated in wells Nos. 1 and 2 ; and no where else, so far as 
1 know, have the borers of oil wells encountered anything like 

* This observation applies with equal force to the Mohawk Creek. 

P. N. 


the quantity of gas that now flows, and for the past three 
months lias flowed, from the fissures struck in these wells. 

Of the four wells bored on, or near your lands, at the time 
of my visit—two were yielding gas in enormous quantities— 
two were flowing o to S gallons of oil per day—all of which I 
should regard as offering abundant encouragement to further 
effort. The wells bored some miles east of the Mohican, in 
the counties of Coshocton and Holmes, seem to have failed to 
develop any indications of a productive oil region, but the 
valleys of the Mohican and Ivokosing, above the junction of 
these streams, in my judgment, give better a priori promise of 
paying oil wells than any other portion of the State . 

It seems to me hardly possible that the enormous volumes 
of gaseous hydrocarbons now escaping from your wells 1 and 
2, should not be somewhere associated with the liquid forms 
of the same elements ; and while the amount of gas will afford 
little ground for conjecture in regard to the quantity of asso¬ 
ciated oil, when it is remembered that more gas escapes from 
each of these wells than would suffice to light the city of New 
York, most persons will be inclined to infer that the quantity 
of oil is considerable. While, therefore, I am led by all mv 
experience and observation to conclude that there are no in¬ 
fallible signs which prophesy success in oil enterprises, and 
would inculcate a proper degree of caution in the expenditure 
of money in ventures that cannot be stripped of uncertainty, 


I think there is fair ground for encouragement to those who 
can do so. to still further test the productiveness of the terri- 
torv which you hold. 

%j t/ 

The gas wells had better be left to their own devices,—and, 
however valuable they would be if differently situated, I fear 
you must be content to see them “waste their sweetness on 
the desert air." The two wells which flow oil, should, as it 
seems to me, be vigorously and somewhat persistently pumped. 
Until such trial is made of them little can be said of their 
value. 

I would also suggest that the next well bored in the valley 
of the Kokosing, be near the eastern margin of the belt of til- 


ted rocks, above your well No. 3 ; and that one or more wells 
be put down in the valley of the Mohican, or some of its trib¬ 
utaries, on the eastern margin of Knox, or western of Holmes 
Counties. 

The oil taken from the wells on the Kokosing is greenish 
in color, without any pungent or disagreeable odor, and is evi¬ 
dently of good quality for refining purposes. Having a grav¬ 
ity of 33°, it is worth considerably more per gallon than the 
oils of Pit Hole and Oil Creek, most of which stands at from 
40° to 57°. 

Wishing you entire success in your efforts, I am 

Yonrs liespectfully, 

J. S. Newberry. 


REPORT OF PROF. H. L. SMITH. 


In searching after petroleum, we must be guided by some 
well founded principles, derived from a careful consideration 
•and study of the attendant phenomena, at those places where 
successful borings have been made, and it is in the geological 
equivalents of the rocks where such borings exist, that we may 
hope to find a somewhat similar supply. 

There is but one source to which the rock oil or petroleum 
lias been referred by the most competent and careful investiga¬ 
tors, and this source is the vast stratum of bituminous shale, 
and slates, far underlying our present coal formations. From 
these slates and shales (now much changed from their original 
character) by an immensely long and peculiar distillation, at 
a very moderate temperature, the vast quantities of oil and 
illuminating gas now known to exist in the neighborhood of 
this great shale belt have been eliminated, and the supply is 
beyond computation. Our present coal fields are vastly in¬ 
ferior in extent, and the oil obtained by distillation from the 
cannel coals, though very similar, is yet, in many important 
particulars, different from that yielded by the slow and long 
distillation of the shales or ancient coals, deep in the earth. 
Directly below these dark shales, as a general rule, we find 
limestone, while immediately overlying are immense beds of 
sandstone and soapstone, followed higher up by conglomerate 
and the coal, with beds of iron ore. It is exceedingly doubtful, 
therefore, as one may readily perceive, whether any well, 
sunk through much depth of limestone rock, will prove a re¬ 
munerative one. Limestones are indeed found underlying the 





25 

coal and overlying the bituminous shales, but, as a general 
rule, the subcarboniferous in Ohio is sandstone and conglom- 
erate. In order to obtain., what may be called a paying well, 
something that will warrant the expense of boring to the re¬ 
quired depths, and which expense by the way, far exceeds the 
sums commonly supposed, it is desired to tap an immense 
reservoir, where, through ages, during which our planet has 
undergone great changes, and for myriads of years before man 
appeared on this globe, the Creator, in this wonderful manner, 
in the laboratory of Nature, has distilled and collected, with a 
design for man’s use, this wonderful material now so necessary 
for the happiness and comfort of the world. 

In the early days of well boring for petroleum, we find two 
widely separated localities selected, and both on account of 
“surface shows,” so called ; one of these lies at the outcrop of 
the great shale belt already named, and which represents the 
coal fields of the ancient world, and contains in it probably 
more bituminous matter than all the other formations on the 
globe; the other lies along the axis of upheaval where the su¬ 
perincumbent strata above these shales have been upturned, 
and partly swept away, leaving below large fissures and rents, 
in which the gas and oil has accumulated for ages, these fissures 
extending through the sandstone and probably through the 
shales. The yields of oil at these two localities are very differ¬ 
ent ; in the first case, the surface show being along the out¬ 
cropping edges of the shale, or immediately overlying strata, 
is but a mere surface “indication,” and a depth of from 30 to 
90 feet will develop all that can be expected here. In some 
cases, boring in the shales will be remunerative, but sinking 
wells in the underlying, outcropping limestones can only give 
small accidental amounts, the dip being in the wrong direction 
and away from the well. Borings along the axis of upheaval 
have been more successful; here the surface indications arise 
from the connection of water percolating through the sand¬ 
stones, with the oil below and issuing by means of cracks and 
deeply extending fissures, as springs bearing the oil along 
with it. Wells sunk along this line of upheavals, and gener- 


ally within the limits of the so-called “coal measures/' are ex¬ 
ceedingly variable in results; some yielding fabulous amounts, 
while others, located near, are failures, and not unfrequently, 
one well is tapped by another penetrating to the same fissure 
in a more advantageous position. As a general rule, it may 
be safely estimated, that not more than one well in twenty , put 
down in this portion of oil territory, is fully remunerative, 
though, up to the present moment, it is by most persons con¬ 
sidered as the oil territory par-excellence. 

As to this territory, another fact must be borne in mind, 
many of the wells rapidly deteriorate in quantity, and some 
entirely fail; and from the nature of the case we must expect 
this, for the well is not supplied from an immense drainage 
ground, continually supplying from all sides, but is dependent 
upon pockets and fissures filled slowly during long ages past, 
but comparatively quickly exhausted. 

Is there such a thing, then, as an underlying vast basin 
between the outcrop on the one side, and the upheaval on the 
other, which, if tapped, would yield long, continued, and 
s teady supply? It would appear that places located between 
these two extremes promise to be more remunerative as oil 
boring territory, than either of the extremes, and that wells 
sunk in the great belt of sandstone, known among geologists 
as the Waverly sandstone, underlying the coal and immediately 
overlying the shale, will be more likely to prove lasting and 
fair yielding wells, although there may be no great “surface 
shows.'- Tins region in Ohio has never been thoroughly de- 
veloped, yet a few wells sank in it, in the northern part of the 
State, have proved very valuable. This great belt of sandstone 
in the middle eastern part of the State, has an outcropping 
breadth of between thirty and forty-five miles, narrowing 
rapidly further south ; the thickness is perhaps, at the extreme? 
1300 feet. We need not here define its outlines, suffice it that 
most of Knox, and a part of Coshocton counties, exhibit it 
everywhere outcropping. 

The well sunk by Mr. Buckingham, and known as No. 4 
of the Neff Petroleum Company, has demonstrated the exist- 


27 

ence of petroleum beyond all controversy, underlying these 
sandstones, not far from the center of the belt. Oil of a most 
superior quality was found at a depth of 5G2 feet. It lias 
demonstrated the existence of petroleum, and immense amounts 
of the vapor of naptha, and of illuminating gas, as really 
everywhere underlying this great belt of sandstone, and when 
we recollect that even in the famous locality of Oil Creek, 
Penn., not more than one well in twenty is a paying one, this 
can hardly be considered other than a great success. That the 
first well, sunk entirely irrespective of surface indications, 
should thus demonstrate the existence of such a fine quality of 
oils and abundance of gas, is in itself good evidence of its ex¬ 
istence everywhere below the same formation, inasmuch as it 
can hardly be possible that this well has chanced to be located 
over the only spot in the neighborhood, where a quantity had 
collected ; probabilities are infinitely against this. 

But again, the No. 1 well of the Neff Petroleum Company, 
sunk not far from the line of Knox and Coshocton counties, 
and about five miles from the No. 1 well, demonstrates the 
same thing. After passing through nearly the same strata, 
suddenly such a powerful vein of rich illuminating gas was 
struck, as to cause a suspension of all work, until tubing can 
be introduced to stop out the water. At the present moment, 
from this well, immense floods of water, in paroxysms of about 
one minute interval, are thrown up to a height of 80 to 100 
feet, showing the enormous pressure of the gas, as also its 
great amount. The vein of water was struck, fortunately, at 
a depth of only about 60 feet, where a large stream was tapped, 
producing no inconvenience in boring until the gas was' struck, 
when suddenly it was all discharged, at regular intervals of 
not more than one minute. The boring throughout its whole 
length of 600 feet, is filled and discharged, making a most 
magnificent hydrualic display. It is, however, at night, that 
the grand phenomena of this well are best exhibited. The 
enormous amount of water, perhaps 10,000 barrels per day, 
keep the derrick and floor so wetted, that the gas can be fired 
with safety ; when this is done, at the instant of the paroxysm, 


28 


-a sudden roar is heard, and at night the flame is seen shooting 
up 15 to 20 feet above the derrick, which is 53 feet high. It 
is a grand sight to see the flame leaping fiercely amidst the 
rushing waters, darting out its fiery tongues on every side; now 
rolling above the most powerful part of the jet like balls danc¬ 
ing on a fountain : and now, with an intensely bright flame, 
leaping suddenly down the column, and running along the 
floor, and illuminating as with burning liquid naptha, which 
is undoubtedly thrown out with the water, the whole forest 
scenery around, as a magnificent spectacle. This well is un¬ 
equaled by anything we have hitherto witnessed, and gives the 
most vivid idea of the immense force, and amounts of illumin¬ 
ating and gaseous material here stored below the surface of the 
earth. As soon as the proper tubing can be introduced to cut 
off the vast influx of water, so that the boring can be resumed 
and the well sunk to the proper depth, there cannot be a 
reasonable doubt, that oil, in considerable quantity, will be 
reached. 

In the immediate vicinity of the Neff Petroleum Company 
is their well No. 2, which, in every respect, is far more remark¬ 
able in its displays than the No. 1 well. Guided by experience 
Mr. Neff introduced a lining pipe as this well was sunk, thus 
cutting off the influx of the water. At a depth of 600 feet a 
fissure was struck, and immediately commenced a discharge 
of gas and briny water, with a showing of oil. The force, un- 
equalled by any known well, with which the gas has for some 
months issued from the 2 inch pipe connected with the well, 
is over 180 pounds pressure to the square inch, as tested by a 
steam guage—running up in 22 minutes of time, and when, 
by means of a large stop cock, the gas is imprisoned for a 
moment, the sudden discharge is like that of escaping steam 
from a high pressure boiler, with a loud rOar. By means of 
pipes which conduct the gas off to a great distance, it can be 
inflamed, and on cloudy nights when the light can be reflected 
from the sky, it can be seen at Gambier, 16 miles distant. It 
needs no argument to prove that the basin of oil which thus 
yields such an immense supply of gas must be truly enormous 


29 


in extent, and will, ere long, be tapped by some of the wells 
now being bored by the Company. 

llie No. 3 well of the Neff Petroleum Company, about 3 
miles West ot the No. 2, is now 572 feet deep, and gives every 
promise of success. 

As to the existence bi oil along this territory, no further evi¬ 
dence is needed. Barrels of it have been taken from the No. 4 
well, and as to its existence in paying quantities , there can be 
no doubt. The phenomena of the No. 1 well are more striking, 
owing to the peculiar manner in which a gaseous subterranean 
reservoir has been tapped, a reservoir which may yet yield oil. 
when rightly opened. It would apppear that the present 
connection with the well, is by a curved or syphon-like fissure, 
and after a paroxysm, the inflowing water, as it passes down 
the tube, can be heard swathing and rumbling with the escaping 
gas, until at length, enough fills in at the bottom to close 
the connecting opening to the gaseous chamber; as the 
well rapidly fills, it condenses the gas in the chamber by the 
weight of the increasing volume of water, and probably the 
water rises somewhat into the syphon connection, though it is 
doubtful whether anv water ever comes over which has actually 

•j *j 

entered this chamber ; when at length, the well is full, the 
water, still rapidly rising up the tube, pushes up a solid column 
of the fluid a few feet in height; this is soon broken, and flow¬ 
ing over relieves the pressure somewhat, when instantly the 
force of the confined gas shoots up the remaining column to a 
great height, discharges the water faster than it flows in, and 
as the pressure is thus continually diminished, it finally shoots 
up in a magnificent jet above the derrick, releasing with a 
rushing, roaring noise, the pent up gas, when again, the water 
flows down the tube, once more cuts off the connection, and 
the same phenomena are repeated at intervals of about one 
minute. It is certainly remarkable that the only wells as yet 
sunk far enough, have developed, two of them, abundant gas, 
two oil. There is a fifth well, on the Butler farm, from which 
8 gallons per day of oil has been obtained, and preparations 
are now being made to test it thoroughly. Not far from this 


30 


well two others are commenced by experienced parties trom 
'■Oil Creek. 

Although these wells, from the geological situation, require 
to be sunk much deeper than those located at the borders of 
the belt, as a general rule, vet there is reason to believe they 
will all be successful and of a permanent character; but even 
if unsuccessful in proving remunerative, we must bear in mind 
that bv no means every well , in the very best hitherto developed 
oil district, and perhaps not even one in twenty, has proved 
remunerative. There is then every inducement to persevere ; 
the “geological formations” is that of Oil Creek, and one suc¬ 
cessful well will amply repay all the outlay of time and money. 
We have, however, hardly a doubt that the enterprise of those 
who have thus pioneered in developing this great tract, will 
bo abundantly rewarded by these same wells. 

TI. L. Smith. 

Gambier. 0., Mav 22, 1866. 


COMMUNICATIONS, LETTERS, &C. 


The following is part of a communication by the Rev. J. 
W. McCarty to the Cincinnati Gazette , August, 1865. 


^ ^ % 

But now for the oil wells. We must not stop to describe 
or study the country or scenery ; for all is superb. Suffice to 
say that a drive of ten miles, which leads us through the ro¬ 
mantic village of Millwood, brings us up at the first derrick 
we meet in the valley. It is called, in the neighborhood, “The 
Hurd Well,” taking its name from the Hon. R. C. Hurd, of 
Mt. Vernon, who is largely interested in developing the re¬ 
sources of this tract of country. Here a depth of about five 
hundred feet has been reached, and already the sand-pump 
brings up “many unmistakable indications.' 1 When the con¬ 
tents of the pump are put in a proper vessel, in a very little 
while a very decided scum of the precious “ile” forms there¬ 
upon—giving forth the genuine petroleum odor. They are 
working away bravely and hopefully here, a little retarded by 
the softness of the stratum and the. almost entire absence of 
water. There seems to be very little doubt but that perseve¬ 
rance will very soon be followed by success in this case. 


* 


% 


% 


% 


* 


* 


A few miles still further down the valley, and just within 
the Coshocton county line, in the angle where the Kokosing 
and Mohican unite to form the Whitewoman s Creek, is the 
Neff Well, in its present stage the most remarkable of all. By 
the kind politeness of Mr. Peter Neff, who stands at the head 
of this enterprise, your correspondent was put in possession of 
the facts connected with the very wonderful developments in 


this quarter. At a depth of about sixty feet, a vein of water 
was struck. The work was continued and the well sunk 
through several standstone formations, until at a depth of six 
hundred feet, on the 27th day of June, the auger pierced what 
seems to be an immense reservoir of petroleum gas. The mo¬ 
ment the auger struck, it suddenly sank, and as suddenly a 
tremendous rush of water followed. This water, forced through 
the entire length of the bore—six hundred feet—was projected 
about a hundred feet perpendicularly in the air, followed by a 
similar jet of gas.- The force of the explosion tore up the sur¬ 
face near the mouth of the bore, and at first somewhat disar¬ 
ranged the machinery. With no small labor an iron tube was 
sunk to control the jets, which ever since have come, as above 
described, at regular intervals of one minute. 

It was my privilege to witness this wonderful phenomenon 
for the first time a few days since, after such dispositions had 
been made as enabled the workmen to proceed and manage 
their machinery without further fear of molestation from the 
angry jets forced up from below. It is hard to describe the 
grandeur of this spectacle. Let us step under the derrick. At 
the top of the tube we see a body of gas escaping. The bright 
sunlight gives it a pale pink hue. We hear a dull, sloshing 
sound below, very like the sound of the ocean billows washing 
against a ship’s wooden walls. It gradually ceases. “Now 
she blows !” calls out the engineer, alluding to the cry of the 
whalers. Gradually at first the volume of water ascends, as if 
balancing itself, until when about six feet from the surface it 
shoots with the rapidity of an arrow upward, expending itself 
high in the air, far above the crest of the derrick, and falling 
in drenching floods on every side. This has gone on without 
interruption lor thirty days, the interval of rest between each 
consecutive jet being rarely neither more nor less than one 
minute. 

It was thought dangerous at first to experiment in setting- 
fire to the gas in order to test its degree or character of .inflam¬ 
mability ; but on this day when I was present, after proper 
precautions to prevent accident, the taper was applied. A 


beautiful yellow flame responded at once to our inquisitiveness. 
Steadily it burned in a jet of light some ten feet high, until the 
next jet of water severed the connection, putting out the flame. 

Since this time a further discovery was made, which I 
witnessed for the first time last night. When the jet of water 
first rises, it severs the connection and extinguishes the flame; 
but if a lighted taper be applied to the body of water close to 
the mouth of the tube, just when the jet shoots upward, the 
whole water-cove seems ignited. The flame is carried to the 
top, high in the air, just as we have seen a ball kept sus¬ 
pended by the playing of a fountain jet: and at the same 
time the whole body of the water cove is permeated with 
beautiful blue and yellow flames. It is a strange spectacle, 
that of water and fire thus interblending, neither neutralizing 
the other. The flame follows the water in its descent, and 
continues to burn at the mouth of the tube until the next water 
jet severs the connection—in more common parlance, “shuts 
off the gas.” This gas is not only combustible, but very highly 
inflammable ; its light is very brilliant, illuminating the whole 
valley in the neighborhood. 

So much for some of the rarest phenomena ever witnessed 
in this region. Now, let us glance at its scientific bearings. 

In the first place, there can scarcely be a question that 
there is an immense reservoir of oil, either actually struck by, 
or else contiguous to, the bore of the well. The water, thus 
given off at once shows a film of naptha, the very lightest pe¬ 
troleum oil, which rapidly volatilizes. The gas has a very 
strong petroleum odor, and when burned, gives the unmis¬ 
takable smell of burned oil. 

Secondly, that the reservoir must be very large, is proved 
b\ the tremendous force exerted. It is easy to calculate that 
the force must be great, which can eject a column of water six 
hundred feet in height, and four and a half inches in diameter, 
as above described; and this in jets of such rapid succession. 
The explosive power of the gas requires only a minute to col¬ 
lect. Were it merely a reservoir of gas that was come upon 
the jet would be continuous. This not being the case, we arc 


0 4 
f»4 


reduced to the conclusion that at each interval a distinct body 
of «:as volatilizes from a substratum of oil, and that this sub- 

u 

stratum, or reservoir, must be very great to furnish so power- 

CD 

ful an ejective force so rapidly. 

Thirdly. It is noticeable that immediately when this phe¬ 
nomenon exhibited itself the springs in the vicinity became 

dry. 

From a careful study of all these facts, we incline to the 
opinion that the bore has struck upon a vein contiguous to the 
oil reservoir, and communicating therewith by a curvature 
corresponding to a siphon. The water comes from the vein, 
before mentioned as having been struck upon, some sixty-six 
feet from the surface. It pours downward, tilling the bore, 
and shutting off the gas escapement at the bottom, which, 
meantime, condenses the gas in an air chamber immediately 
above the grand reservoir, until it gains sufficient force to 
overcome the equilibrium of the water column, passes through 
the siphon, and as it gathers strength in proportion as it over¬ 
comes the water by expelling it, at length rushes out with the 
fierce velocity and force we have mentioned. 

But what encouragement does all this give for a producing 
well—for an abundant flow of oil? The very greatest. Pa- 
tience and perseverance, seemingly, cannot but be rewarded 
here. Let the water connection be but once cut off—for which 
the most active measures are being taken—and then the pump 
is very likely to do the rest. It is highly probable that the 
affair may be so managed as to make the condensed gas, which 
now so powerfully ejects the water, be itself the agency to- 
force up the oil, which, without any doubt, seems to be adja¬ 
cent. Then would be exhibited the glad phenomenon of a 
flowing well, equal to, if not superior to anything of the kind 
as yet discovered in the best petroleum bearing regions of 
Pennsylvania. 

On the whole, our enterprising fellow-citizens of Ohio have 
much reason to congratulate themselves, and to be congratu¬ 
lated, for the success so far attained. Fully nine-tenths of the 
oil wells are not successes ; yet here, in Kokosing valley, is a 


line of wells, each one more promising than the other, and 
none without evidence ot success. We cannot imagine that 
our beautiful Buckeye State is less gifted in nature’s resources 
than her neighbors. Surely her citizens must not be behind 
hand in energy and enterprise in developing her sources of 


wealth. 

I have just learned that at another well, near Loudonville, 
some fourteen miles north of this place, they have struck oil. 


1 hope to go up and see for myself one of these days. If there 
be any wonders developed there, I shall send you a word of 


information. 

I enclose my card. It will convince you and others by this 
mention of the fact, that, being a wholly disinterested party, I 
appropriately entitle this communication, “ The Notes of 


A Tourist. 





From the Detroit Advertiser and Tribune of June 6th, 1866. 

OHIO OIL FORMATIONS. 

The discovery of native petroleum in quantity sufficient to 
attract the attention of business men, has become an event of 
such frequent occurrence that to the casual observer, and per¬ 
haps even to the u operator,” it appears that this product may 
be looked for with almost equal hope of success in every 
locality and in every geological position. Having been led to 
devote considerable attention to the geological position and 
geographical distribution of petroleum deposits, I propose to 
offer a few statements embracing a synopsis of a portion of 
my observations. This may enable the general reader to at¬ 
tain more satisfactory views on the subject of the geology of 
petroleum. 

1. Native petroleum occurs in stratified rocks of every 
geological age. It even affords some of the strongest sensible 
evidences of its presence in formations in which no accumu- 



36 


lated supply has been found to exist. This is strikingly true 
of the corniferous limestone, and with some qualifications, of 
the coal measures and portions of the Niagara limestone, as at 
Chicago. 

2. Petroleum seems to have originated from the slow spon¬ 
taneous decomposition and distillation of organic matter, 
either vegetable or animal, but most frequently and abun¬ 
dantly the former. 

3. Vegetable substances imbedded in the rocks appear, 
under certain conditions, to resolve themselves into an oily or 
bituminous product; in others, into a carbonaceous one. I 
have not investigated the causes of this difference, but I ob¬ 
serve that the oily condition is uniformly assumed when the 
vegetable substances are intimately mixed with fine sediments 
in the form of bituminous shales and cannel coals. 

4. I have discovered no satisfactory evidence of the pro¬ 
duction of petroleum from chemical reactions between salt 
water, limestone, and other substances. I consider the almost 
invariable association of petroleum and salt water as an acci¬ 
dent due simply to the fact that the oil making vegetables 
were mostly fucoids living in the sea, whose saline constitu¬ 
ents became entangled in the sediments which buried the 
vegetable debris. 

5. The oily as well as the gaseous products evolved from 
the substances imbedded in the rocks, tend to rise, in conse¬ 
quence of their lighter gravity than water. The source of a 
petroleum deposit cannot, therefore, be at a level higher than 
the place of accumulation. 

6. These products will continue to rise till they reach the 
surface and volatilize, unless arrested by a bed of material like 
shale, or clay which proves to be impervious. 

7. If the oil is arrested in a rock which is neither very 
porous nor much fractured, no considerable accumulation can 
take place ; and notwithstanding the most promising u indi¬ 
cations,’’ no considerable supply can be obtained. This seems 
to be the state of things in St. Clair and Wayne counties in 
this State. 


8. The requisite reservoirs exist in some cases, especially 
in limestones, where no visible upheaval or dislocation of the 
strata exists. This is the case in Canada West, where the oil 
accumulates in—1. Vertical or oblique fissures; 2. Horizontal, 
cavernous spaces between limestone strata, produced by the 
solvent action of water; 3. Shattered calcareous shales; 4. Po¬ 
rous magnesian limestone; 5. Gravel deposits at the bottom 
of the drift materials. Little disturbance has taken place in 
Pennsylvania, most parts of West Virginia, Barren county, 
Kentucky, and Warren, White and parts of Overton county, 
Tennessee. 

9. In other cases it is obvious that a fissured condition of 
the strata has strikingly facilitated the accumulation of the oil. 
This condition seems to be essential in most sandstone forma¬ 
tions, where water exerts no solvent action. The tilting of 
the strata, moreover, into an anticlinal arrangement, gives 
direction to the movement of the oil, creating a tendency to 
accumulate along the line of the anticlinal. These effects of 
geological disturbance are instructively exemplified in limited 
portions of West Virginia, and in the Burksville region of 
Southern Kentucky. Quite unexpectedly, also, they exist in 
the eastern part of Knox county, Ohio, in the angle formed 
by the Mohican and Kokosing rivers—a region just undergo¬ 
ing development in the hands of the “ Keif Petroleum Com¬ 
pany.” Some disturbance exists also in the region of oil in¬ 
dications about Grand Traverse bay. 

10. Petroleum has been found in quantities of commercial 
importance in the following formations and regions east of the 
Rocky Mountains. 

(1.) In the Nashville group of rocks, in the Lower Siluri¬ 
an, on the Great Manitoulin Island and in the Burksville 
region of Southern Kentucky, and in parts of Overton county, 
Tennessee. 

(2.) In the Hamilton group in Canada West, which occu¬ 
pies a position near the middle of the Devonian system. 

(3.) In the lower carboniferous sandstones of northwestern 
Pennsylvania, and Knox county, Ohio. 


38 




(4.) In the carboniferous or mountain limestone of the 
Glasgow region of Southern Kentucky, and in Warren, White 
and parts of Overton county, Tenn. 

(5.) In the conglomerate or millstone grit in parts of 
Southwestern Pennsylvania and in West Virginia and North- 
eastern Kentucky. 

(6.) In the coal measures of Coshocton, Muskingum and 
other counties of Ohio and parts of Northeastern Kentucky. 

11. In all these regions and formations the oil-retaining 
rock is known to be locally associated with strata charged with 
organic matter. The greatest known depository of organic 
matter east of the Rocky Mountains, except the coal measures, 
is the black (or Genesee) shale, which lies immediately below 
the oil-receiving strata of Venango county, Penn., and Knox 

O Ole/' 

county, Ohio. 

j 


12. Surface indications manifest themselves on all forma¬ 


tions containing oil, whether in large or small quantities. The 
most remarkable indications known occur above the coal mea¬ 
sures in Northeastern Kentucky and in Muskingum, Coshoc- 
ton and other counties in Ohio. 

13. Very copious discharges at the surface prove that the 
product is wasting itself instead of accumulating. The most 
persevering attempts at development in Northeastern Ken¬ 
tucky have failed to result in any marked success. The same 
is substantially true of Southeastern Ohio, and there are strong* 
reasons for distrusting the indications in Coshocton county. 
Actual boring, however, will prove more satisfactory than any 
geological indaction. 


1-1. The phenomena of flowing wells are attributable to 
the elastic force of confined gas. Pulsating or intermittent 
wells are produced by the continuous escape of gas in the same 
hole into which oil or water is continuously flowing. The 
fluids accumulate above the gas and partially confine it, till its 
tension becomes sufficient to lift the burden and throw it out 
of the well. These phenomena are finely exhibited in a flow¬ 
ing well in Knox county, and also in one which has an inter¬ 
mittent discharge of water with little oil. The pulsating 


wells of Petrol ia. Canada West, are also instructive exam* 
pies. 

15. The most remarkable flowing wells ever known, existed 
at Oil Springs, C. W., in 1862. The largest of these dis¬ 
charged 7.500 barrels of oil per day. No less than five mil¬ 
lions of barrels were wasted on Black Creek during that year. 
The most remarkable cases of flowing oil wells, bored thirty 
or more vears ago for salt, are the Old American Well, near 
Bnrksville, in Kentucky, and the Burning Well near Sparta. 
Tennessee. The former flowed for months into the Cumber¬ 
land river, and the latter, until plugged, into the Caney Fork. 

16. The most productive formation in the United States is 
that of the lower carboniferous sandstones, commonly, but 
erroneously regarded in Pennsylvania as corresponding to the 
■Chemung, or upper Devonian, of New York. This position 
is between the coal measures and the black shale. Not im¬ 
probably the lower portion of this series corresponds to the 
Chemung. The exact counterpart of this formation is found 
in the Waverlv, or fine grained sandstones stretching from 
Cleveland to the Ohio river. Throughout most of this belt 
the strata are too undisturbed to justify the expectation of' oil 
accumulation. In Knox county, however, Peter Nefi. Esq., 
of Gambler, has made known the existence of some well 
marked disturbances. These reach over to the border of the 
coal measures in Coshocton county. This region has, as yet. 
been only partially tested: but it is quite obvious that we 
have here the Venango region reproduced, with the same geo¬ 
logical position, the same topography, and the same elevation 
above the lake. Here is a new and most encouraging field 
for the enterprise of oil speculators; and although the lands 
have been mostly purchased or leased by the company already 
referred to. I am informed that they are willing to transfer to 
other parties a limited amount of their territory on the same 
terms as they have themselves obtained from the original 

owners. A. WINCITELL, 

Prof, of Zoology and Botany, University of Michigan. 

Ann A rbok, June 2. 1866. 


From the Cleveland (0.) Herald of June 9th, 1866. 

Cleveland, (3., June 1st, 1866. 

Ei >s. Herald :—Having recently visited Knox county for 
the purpose of examining some lands and oil wells belonging 
to tlie Neff Petroleum Company, I found them to present some 
phenomena of such interest that I have thought your readers 
would be willing to have a brief description of them. 

The President of the Company I have mentioned, Peter 
Neff, Escp, is a gentleman of education, residing at Gambler, 
Ohio. Being unusually well informed in regard to the geology 
of our State, and familiar with the geology and topography of 
the Oil Creek region, and knowing that most of Knox county 
is underlaid by rocks of the same age as those from which oil 
is obtained on Oil Creek, he made careful comparisons between 
the different portions of the out-crop of the oil rocks in Ohio 
and Pennsylvania and the region in which he resides, and was 
thus led to consider the Eastern part of Knox county as giv¬ 
ing special promise of being productive in petroleum. Having 
secured by lease, or purchased several thousand acres of land 
in the valleys of the Kokosing and Mohican, he commenced a 
thorough and systematic exploration of his property, not as a 
scheme of speculation, but a legitimate business enterprise. 

No stock was issued, no reports or maps published, no in¬ 
terests offered for sale, but as a man would work his coal or 
iron lands, Mr. N. and his partners have carried on the work 
of development at their own expense. Four wells have already 
been put down to the depth of six or eight hundred feet, and 
others are about being commenced. The wells bored have 
brought to light facts of considerable scientific and practical 
value, and at the request of Prof. IT. L. Smith, of Kenyon 
College, I went down to examine them. 

On my way I spent half a day with Prof. Smith, in look¬ 
ing through the College, and examining the beautiful collec¬ 
tion of microscopic apparatus, objects and drawings which 

are the products of his skill and industry. 

# # * % % % # 

From Gambier our route lay down the valley of the Ivo- 


41 


kosing, some twenty miles to the junction of that stream with* 
the Walhonding. 

Within this interval the valley has nearly an East and 
West course, and is excavated in the u Waverly” formation,, 
in the direction ot the dip ol the strata, which is here East- 
wardly about twenty-two feet to the mile. Near Millwood, 
however, a few miles below Gambier, we crossed a belt of a 
mile or more in width, in which the rocks are much disturbed ; 
the dip being increased to 20 degrees or even 30 degrees with 
the horizon. Such disturbances are hopeful signs in an oil 
region, as they indicate the existence of subterranean fissures 
and cavities in which the oil may accumulate, and without 
which no great oil wells are possible. Two wells have been 
bored near this break, one above, the other below. These are 
flowing, one three, the other eight gallons of oil per day, and 
are soon to be thoroughly tested by the pump. Two or three 
miles below, and near the mouth of the Kokosing, two other 
wells have been bored to the depth of over 600 feet, penetrating 
the equivalents of the strata passed through by the wells on 
Oil Creek, and having here nearly the same lithological char¬ 
acters, namely, argillaceous shale (soapstone), with bands of 
sandstone. On reaching the third sand rock at the depth of 
600 feet, the auger, in both wells, struck upon nearly vertical 
crevices, into wdiich it penetrated several feet without resist¬ 
ance. From these crevices issued a volume of carburretted 
hydrogen gas without parallel, so far as I am informed, in all 
the oil explorations made in the country. 

In both wells copious streams of salt water had been pre¬ 
viously met with, and the wells were tilled when the gas 
chambers were struck, but this water was ejected with such 
violence as to form intermittent fountains over one hundred 
feet in height. The first of these two wells was bored during 
the winter, and the water thrown out soon covered the derrick 
•with ice, forming a kind of chimney sixty feet in height. 
Through this the water was thrown at intervals of about one 
minute, to double that height, or 120 feet. After, and with 
the water, came a great rush of gas, which continued until 


42 


the pressure below was relieved, when the water again began 
to accumulate, and was again ejected. This series ot phe¬ 
nomena has been repeated with unvarying regularity, and 
undiminished force, for some mouths. 

At the time of my visit, an effort was being made to tube 
the well, by which the flow of water and gas was somewhat 
impeded, and I did not witness the full effect of the paroxysm, 
but a series of photographs which I saw, fully confirmed the 
description given me by Prof. Smith and others. 

When the derrick was covered with ice the gas escaping 
from the well was frequently ignited, and the effect, especially 
at niglit, of this fountain of mingled fire and water shooting 
up to the height of 120 feet through a great transparent and 
illuminated chimney, is said to have been indescribably mag¬ 
nificent. 

In well Ho. 2, which has a history similar to that of Ho. 1, 
the gas chamber was opened on the first of March, but this 
well has been carefully cased and the water all shut off, so 
that the gas is permitted to escape without impediment. A 
pipe 2 inches in the clear is set in the well head, and from 
this a constant stream of illuminating gas is now, and for 
three months has been, escaping with a sound audible some 
distance from the well. 

At the time of our visit nearly 100 feet of pipe was con¬ 
nected with the well, and thus at a safe distance the gas issu¬ 
ing from it was ignited. The effect even in bright sunshine 
was surprising. A jet of flame was formed 20 feet or more 
in length and as large as a hogshead. By fixing a stop cock 
in the pipe the gas was made to accumulate until, measured 
by a steam guage, the pressure amounted to 180 pounds to 
the square inch. 

This was as great a pressure as the guage would indicate, 
but it is evident that the pressure below is much greater than 
that, as the weight of the column of water 600 feet high lifted 
by it is 262 pounds to the square inch. When liberated after 
a confinement of a few minutes, and ignited, the gas formed 
.a volume of flame as large as a house. At night an exhibi- 

o o 


43 


tion similar to that witnessed by us at mid day is said to be 
wonderfully impressive, the light of the gas illuminating the 
whole country like a conflagration. 

The gas from these wells seems to be very pure, having no 
other smell than an agreeable one of naptha, and has high 
illuminating qualities. Its volume is greater than would suf¬ 
fice to light the largest city in the world, and if differently 
situated, the value of the material thus wasted, for lighting or 
heating, would be greater than the product of the best oil well 
known. 

There is little doubt that the immense quantity of gas 
issuing from these wells is somewhere associated with exten¬ 
sive accumulations of the liquid form of the same elements— 
petroleum—and after seeing the intelligent, earnest and legiti¬ 
mate way in which Mr. Neff and his associates are searching 
for it, I could not but heartily wish them success. 

Yours respectfully, 

J. S. Newberry. 


From the Mining and Manufacturing Journal. 

IMPROVED METHOD OF BORING OIL WELLS. 

Gambier, O., June 14th, IS66. 

Editor Mining and Manufacturing Journal : — I notice, 
of late, many references in your valuable paper of improved 
modes of constructing oil wells. Permit me, in as brief a 
manner as possible, to describe the construction of wells of 
the Neff Petroleum Company. Pettengill, Glass & Co.’s six 
inch cast iron surface pipe is driven to the rock—the well is 
then drilled five and three-quarter inches diameter down be¬ 
low the lowest water-course, which is to a depth here of about 
250 feet, where the second sandrock is reached, below which 
fresh water veins are not encountered; having drilled from 
two to four feet into this second sandrock, the well is reduced 
to four and a half inches diameter, and the drilling continued. 



u 


till it is estimated that the remaining depth to the third sand- 
rock is 30 to 50 feet. 

The well is then thoroughly sand-pumped, and Morris, 
Tasker & Cods five and a quarter inches outside, being four 
and three-quarter inches inside diameter, O. D. Art. Well 
Tube inserted joints let down, thus casing the well effectually 
for about 250 feet of its depth. It enters the funnelled open¬ 
ing of the four and one-half inch diameter bore in the second 
sandrock. 

In the space between this casing and the surface pipe, 
water-lime and fine sand, well mixed with water, are poured 
down. This cement settles in the rook funnel and makes a 
tight joint; so tight that a steam guage test of 180 lbs. to the 
square inch has not opened it. 

A few wedges of wood are driven in the mouth of the well- 

o 1 

between the casing and the driving pipe, and the top of the 
casing bent over and hammered down on the wedges and 
driving pipe top. The well being full of water has a supply 
to finish the'drilling. 

On the completion of the well, if it flows, all that is neces¬ 
sary is a plug in the top of the casing with a two-inch tube 
through it, to convey the oil and gas away. A stop cock in 
this tube will regulate the flow; hold the gas in the well gas¬ 
ometer ; and, if necessary, from fire or other causes, answer 
to shut off the flow of the well. It being thus cased no dam- 
age can accrue to the well. 

If the well is to be pumped, seed bags are substituted by 
a wooden block on the mouth which holds the clamps support-' 
ing the tubing, and makes a tight joint. 

If there is an excess of gas in the well, relieve the pump 
valves by boring a small hole through the wooden cap or plug. 
Never draw the casing and surface pipes, when a well is aban¬ 
doned plug it; and thus you may some day make it a paying 
well; but especially you do not ruin your neighbor’s wells 
by flooding them. 

This is our mode—adopted by the writer a year ago. 

Yours, respectfully, Peter Neff. 


45 


From the Mining and Manufacturing Journal. 

TORPEDOES FOR OIL WELLS. 

Gambier. O., June 26th, 1866. 

J. A. Blake, Esq.— 

Dear Sir: —Torpedoes lor Oil Wells are best constructed 
ot tin, copper, or of boiler-flue iron—as the pressure in the 
well may require. They should be the length of the thickness 
of the oil rocks or strata, from four to twelve feet long, and as 
great in diameter as the well will permit. The ends should 
be closed with brass caps to screw on, and each cap must have 
a stuffing box. 

The insulated wire passing from the Carbon Battery should 
enter the top cap, go through the torpedo and pass out the 
lower cap; then stripped of its insulation, should turn up 
along side the torpedo, and for a foot or two above it. The 

water in the well will form the return circuit to the Batterv. 

%} 

But from the top of the water and immersed into the water 
in the well let a common wire be run and put into connection 
with the Battery. Quick blasting powder should be used— 
twenty-five to seventy-five lbs., as the torpedo may hold. 

Now to fill and ignite the torpedo, take a pine stick, about 
three-fourths by one-half inch, and the length of the torpedo 
inside, lay the insulated wire on this stick, and tie it securely 
to it, then make bare the wire in spaces of a quarter of an 
inch, in places about eight or ten inches apart, and file the 
wire asunder in each of these parts. By working the Battery 
a good spark must be produced at each of these separations ; 
then tack little paste board caps just below each of these breaks 
in the wire—fill each cap with fine good powder, then run 
the wire through the stuffing box of the lower cap and let this 
stick thus prepared stand on the inside of the lower cap, and 
in this position carefully fill the torpedo with the blasting 
powder; then screw on the top cap and tighten the top stuf¬ 
fing box. 

The torpedo having a bale on the top is let down to the 
required depth, with the sand pump rope. Operate fifty to 
one hundred feet from the mouth of the well. The results 


are good. This torpedo possesses the advantage of instanta¬ 
neous explosion throughout its entire length. I speak from 
an experience in 1865, with Prof. IT. L. Smith and E. P. 
Buckingham, Esq. 

Yours, respectfully. 


Petek Neff. 











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